Spear’s Review

‘Executive search is a people business,’ says Chris Oxley, founder of Oxley & Partners, which in August 2025 merged with Churchill Executive Search to become Oxley Churchill. The new firm is part of the Henley Insights Group, of which Richard Boot OBE is chairman.

Primarily working with family offices, investment management firms and private equity businesses, the firm routinely places candidates at the director level. Oxley says his work in occupational psychology helps to differentiate his service, and provides him with a useful advantage when communicating with firms and prospective candidates.

The merger has grown the firm beyond the executive search label and into market intelligence, which means they can benchmark talent and assess leadership potential. ‘What we’re doing is quite unique,’ Oxley tells Spear’s. ‘My personal approach has always been to have a blend of deep sector knowledge and business psychology. By bringing on Churchill, we keep that human-centric philosophy but add their outstanding research capability and influential network.’

Adviser Profile

Hello, Chris Oxley here, I lead Oxley Churchill – part of the Henley Insights Group – a specialist executive search and talent life cycle firm.

We partner with clients across wealth management, banking, asset management and the wider financial services industry to solve a range of talent challenges – from leadership succession and strategic growth to regulatory hires in compliance, risk and governance. Our advisory approach blends market insight with a human focus, creating tailored, diverse solutions for each situation.

We do this by combining the expertise of our UK-leading independent global research team with our wider capabilities in talent intelligence, psychology, executive search, assessment, and compensation and reward – covering the entire talent life cycle.

What I’m particularly proud of is that this combination gives us the scale and depth to address complex leadership and organisational challenges, while retaining the agility, discretion and personal attention of a boutique. It enables us to deliver unrivalled talent solutions, from market intelligence and executive search to talent mapping, competitor analysis, and salary and reward benchmarking, all designed to give our clients the clarity and confidence to make informed leadership decisions that safeguard the competitiveness and future success of their business.

Beyond executive search, and indulging my passion for all things people and psychology, I host a podcast exploring psychology, leadership and neuroscience. It has become a unique connector within the wealth and financial services community, sparking introductions that have led to learning and development opportunities, event speaking engagements and even board advisory appointments.